Kakeru is a typical high school sophomore who is totally obsessed with the super popular Vtuber, Muna Hoshinova. But one day, he accidentally discovers that the new transfer student, Hazuki, is actually Muna in real life! Hazuki begs him to keep it a secret from everyone at school, making him her only confidant.
But keeping that secret is way too hard! His classmates Yuzuha and Akari keep pestering him because they know he's a Muna fan, and his childhood friend Sakura is getting suspicious of h
A Secret Kiss Behind the Stars - A Reward Under the Starry Sky and a Creeping Shadow
In the distance, music could be heard.
In the schoolyard, the campfire blazed a vivid red, and several circles of folk dancers had formed. Bursts of laughter and the sound of excited footsteps rode the night wind all the way here.
Aikawa Kakeru stood in the shadow of the rooftop water tank.
Every time a cold wind blew, the October night air bit into his skin. His own breath was white. Looking toward Tokyo, the lights of the building clusters twinkled far away.
(*Will Haduki come?*)
When he'd said in the classroom earlier, "Can we meet on the rooftop after the post-festival?", she had only given a small nod. He wasn't sure if she would really come.
The rooftop door creaked open.
He turned around.
Backlit by the moonlight, Haduki stood there.
She wore a thin cardigan over her uniform, her hands clasped in front of her chest. Behind her usual fashion glasses, her purple eyes wavered.
"...I came."
She said it a little shyly and stood next to Kakeru. The distance between their shoulders was about a fist's width. A distance that felt both close and far.
"Aren't you cold?"
"No, I'm fine."
Haduki shook her head, but her fingertips were a little red. Kakeru thought about taking off his blazer, but stopped. Somehow, it felt too soon.
The two of them silently looked down at the schoolyard.
The campfire flames flickered in the distance. The orange light stretched the shadows of the dancing students long. Cheerful laughter reached them even here.
But this place was quiet.
A place for just the two of them, cut off from the noise.
Kakeru thought back over the events of the day.
Shouting from the gymnasium stage in front of the whole school. Being laughed at by his classmates and called "cringey." Sakura confessing her feelings through tears. And then Haduki telling him, "You're my one and only true hero."
It already felt like something that had happened long ago.
(*But nothing is over yet.*)
Kakeru clenched his fist.
He had managed to protect Haduki's secret identity, but he didn't know what kind of harassment awaited him tomorrow. He might become the laughingstock of the school as "the guy who can't read the room."
Even so, he didn't care.
Because Haduki was here now.
That alone was enough.
"...How did you feel back then?"
When Kakeru asked, Haduki looked down.
Her long black hair streamed in the wind.
"How did I feel..."
"On the stage, when you were cornered, and I jumped out."
Haduki was silent for a moment.
She stared at her own fingertips, starting to say something and then closing her mouth.
"...I was scared."
Her voice trembled.
"At first, I thought it was over. That my identity would be exposed, and everything—as Muna, as Haduki—would end."
Haduki hugged her own arms tightly.
"Everyone was looking at me, and it was so terrifying. Even when they told me to speak in Muna's voice, my throat trembled, and I couldn't make a sound."
Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes.
"And then, you jumped out, Kakeru-kun..."
Haduki raised her face.
Her purple eyes, wet with tears, looked straight at Kakeru.
"In that moment, I thought for the first time: I'm not alone."
Her voice, though trembling, rang out clearly.
"As Muna, on the other side of the screen, I've been loved by so many people. But the person who tried to protect the weak, crybaby real me here and now... you were the first, Kakeru-kun."
Tears streamed down her cheeks.
The glistening drops sparkled in the moonlight.
"So, thank you. Truly, thank you."
Saying that, she bowed deeply.
Kakeru caught his breath.
A warmth spread through the center of his chest.
(*I don't have the right to be told something like that.*)
He had just shouted recklessly. There was no plan. As a result, he'd turned the whole class against him and even caused trouble for Sakura.
But.
Haduki had just said, "I felt like I wasn't alone."
Those words alone made him feel like everything today had been saved.
"...No, I'm the one who should be thanking you."
Kakeru placed his hand on the rooftop fence.
The cold feel of the iron transmitted to his palm.
"You see, back in middle school, something really painful happened to me."
Haduki raised her face and looked at Kakeru.
"Someone I thought was my best friend revealed my secret. The whole class laughed at me, and I hated going to school so much I couldn't stand it."
His voice trembled a little.
Even now, remembering it made his chest ache deep inside.
"At that time, what I happened to see was Muna's stream."
Haduki's eyes widened.
"On the other side of the screen, Muna was smiling. Looking so happy, sparkling. Just watching made me forget the bad stuff. ...Back then, you saved me."
Kakeru looked straight at Haduki.
"So this time, I wanted to protect you. The person who saved me back then—this time, I would be the one."
Haduki covered her mouth with both hands.
Tears spilled through the gaps between her fingers.
"...That's... for me to hear something like that from you, Kakeru-kun..."
Her voice choked up.
"When I stream as Muna, I always think: I hope someone on the other side of the screen will smile, even just a little. But... to think there was someone who was truly saved... that a day would come when I'd be told that, right in front of me, like this."
With a face messy from tears, she smiled.
"I'm truly... so blessed."
That smile, illuminated by the moonlight, was so beautiful.
Kakeru felt his heart pounding like a frantic alarm bell.
(*Ah, I see.*)
He understood it clearly now.
I love this girl.
Not Muna. I love Haduki.
"...Kakeru-kun."
Haduki took one step closer.
The fist-width of distance became zero.
Looking down shyly, she took a small breath.
"You know, there's something I understood for the first time today."
"...What is it?"
Haduki raised her face.
Her purple eyes looked straight at Kakeru. Deep within them, it was as if stars were twinkling.
"That it's not as Muna, but as Haduki, that I've fallen in love with someone for the first time."
Kakeru's breath stopped.
"All this time, I've felt sorry toward the people who love Muna on the other side of the screen. Because the real me is actually this weak, a crybaby, a hopeless person. Because I'm not a perfect idol like Muna."
She placed a hand on her own chest.
"But you, Kakeru-kun, you saw the real me. You protected me. So... my hero is you, and only you."
She stood on her tiptoes.
Gently placed her hands on Kakeru's shoulders.
A distance where their breaths mingled.
"This is a reward for the hero who was the coolest today."
Saying that, Haduki closed her eyes.
Kakeru couldn't move.
His mind went completely blank, and only his heart thrashed wildly.
(*She's going to kiss me—*)
Her lips touched his.
Just a brief moment of contact, then they quickly parted.
A soft, warm sensation lingered on his lips.
"...I love you."
Haduki's voice trembled near his ear.
In that instant, Kakeru's body moved.
So naturally it surprised even himself, he wrapped his arms around her back.
"...Me too."
The words came out naturally.
"I love you too, Haduki. Not Muna, but you, Haduki."
This time, Kakeru brought his own face closer to her lips.
Haduki's eyes widened in surprise.
But immediately, those purple eyes gently closed.
Their lips met.
Longer and deeper than before.
Her body trembled slightly. Kakeru held her tighter.
In the distance, a cheer went up.
The campfire must have flared up especially large. Excited voices could be heard from the schoolyard.
Under a star-filled sky.
The flickering firelight illuminated the two of them from afar.
The lights of Minase city twinkled like jewels.
Their first kiss carried the faint scent of sparks.
---
—*Click.*
*Click, click, click.*
The mechanical sound of continuous shooting echoed in the darkness.
At the very edge of the cultural festival grounds.
In the woods, there was a black shadow.
A man in a suit aimed a camera with a telephoto lens. He looked to be in his mid-thirties. Expressionless, he was as still as a statue. But his eyes alone glinted like a snake targeting its prey.
*Click.*
The silhouettes of the two overlapping on the rooftop.
The man twisted the corner of his mouth faintly.
He put down the camera and picked up a radio.
"Veilguard, target confirmed."
A voice mixed with noise came back through the radio.
*"Report."*
"The person behind Muna Hoshinova, Haduki Tsukimiya, and a civilian she is in contact with. The school is Minase Municipal Aobadai High School. A male student in the same year."
The man took out a notebook and opened it to a page with Kakeru's photo attached.
Written there in meticulous detail were Kakeru's name, address, family structure, and even his social relationships.
"During the disturbance in the gymnasium, the subject spread false information in front of the entire student body to conceal the true identity of the person behind the character. The possibility of a route confidentiality breach is considered extremely high."
From the other side of the radio, the sound of someone sighing could be heard.
*"...Level?"*
"Level 3. The subject has definitively grasped the identity of the person behind the character and is actively engaging in concealment. Risk of information leakage is high. I advise immediate action."
A moment of silence.
Then, a cold voice returned.
*"...Authorized. Register the subject as a Level 3 case. Designate for elimination."*
"Understood."
The man switched off the radio.
He aimed his camera once more.
*Click.*
Kakeru and Haduki, holding hands and looking up at the starry sky.
"Youth, huh."
The man spat the words out.
"It won't last long."
He put the camera back in its case and disappeared deeper into the woods.
In the now-silent darkness, only the distant flickering of the campfire burned on, red, so red.
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